Dr. Steven J. Robbins, virologist and Chief Executive Officer of Cryptic Afflictions, LLC has discovered a major neuropathogen identified as an RNA virus designated as Cryptovirus. Substantial clinical and molecular evidence indicates that this virus is involved in the development of neurological disorders that include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) by the World Health Organization, Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) and Idiopathic Epilepsy of unknown cause.

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The article says that Dr Robbins discovered the virus (or antibodies to the virus) (in 2006?).
It says that he tested 56 blood samples from patients with CFS/ME and found 96% of the samples tested positive for 'Cryptovirus specific antibodies'.

He also found the same Cryptovirus antibodies in 90% of Multiple Sclerosis patients tested.

I'm bewildered that I've never come across this research before, and that it seems to have disappeared off the radar after this press release.

Does anyone know any more about this Cryptovirus discovery or why the research seems to have gone silent?

Dr. Steven J. Robbins, virologist and Chief Executive Officer of Cryptic Afflictions, LLC has discovered a major neuropathogen identified as an RNA virus designated as Cryptovirus. Substantial clinical and molecular evidence indicates that this virus is involved in the development of neurological disorders that include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) by the World Health Organization, Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) and Idiopathic Epilepsy of unknown cause.

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It was during this phase of our own research that we actually learned of Dr. Steven Robbins' discovery of Cryptovirus specific antibody reactivity in patients with CFS." Dr. Robbins had tested fifty-six serum specimens from patients who had been diagnosed with CFS along with eleven matching cerebrospinal fluid samples obtained from physicians in Brisbane and Southeast Queensland. Dr. Robbins had determined that 96% of the blood samples and 91% of the spinal fluid samples tested positively for Cryptovirus specific antibodies in these CFS patients.

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According to the company, "This previously undetected virus appears to be of significant importance to researchers looking for a cure to Multiple Sclerosis and many other neurological illnesses. Antibodies to the newly discovered virus were found in the cerebrospinal fluid and blood of over 90% of the patients tested with Multiple Sclerosis. It is believed that this newly discovered virus may prove to be responsible for a host of neurological disorders. Tests are currently being prepared for tissue samples of lesions within the brains of patients with Multiple Sclerosis. This will be the final round of tests before approaching the FDA for approval of the diagnostic tests."

Hi Alex. No, he is in the States. The larger study referred to above was conducted in the US almost a decade after the Qld one. That is part of the problem. He left Brisbane without providing feedback to study participants. Problems with funding. There is another thread with additional info.

A recently published medical journal article suggests that Cryptovirus is most similiar to Parainfluenza Virus 5, a rubulavirus in the paramyxovirus family. Another rubulavirus related to Cryptovirus and Parainfluenza Virus 5, that has gained national attention for its large outbreak, is the mumps virus. Rubulavirus infections have been associated with encephalitis, meningitis, orchitis, inflammation of the testicles or ovaries, spontaneous abortion, and deafness.

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Cryptovirus may be PV5? I do have some of these symptoms.

"Our own funded research first confirmed the lack of a vital protein, known as Stat-1, in the blood of patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Stat-1 plays an indispensable role in immunity. Without this protein, patients are unable to effectively fight viral and bacterial infections. Thus, the next logical question to be answered was 'Could a virus be causing this Stat-1 depletion?'

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I found this very interesting. There is more than a suggestion that Crypto and others tie up stat-1, thus inhibiting the immune system. This seems to be a similar mechanism to how XMRV works. Hence my interest.

I still can't work out what happened to Cryptovirus research, and whether Cryptovirus is thought to be the same as PIV-5, or a similar virus.
As far as I can understand they don't appear to be saying that the two are the same thing, but very similar.

Here's an interesting segment from the article about Cryptovirus:

Simply stated, it now appeared that Dr. Robbins' virus that he had isolated from very ill patients potentially came from swine! This discovery would make this virus an animal or zoonotic virus, a virus that had crossed over from one species (animal) to infect another (people)! Interestingly, this would be no different than the current focus on the bird flu in the media and the concerns about it infecting people! Likewise, current media attention given to the mumps virus, a rubulavirus similar to PIV-5, and its rapid spread in the Midwest was also found to be equally worthy of growing public awareness. The NCF pondered, "Should Cryptovirus/
PIV-5 receive any less airplay?"

The NCF wondered if this was a plausible explanation? After careful consideration our conclusion was "Absolutely!" It made sense to us here at the NCF, along with the many scientists who we shared this information with, largely because of the following logic: If you can have the swine flu (swine influenza) then you certainly can have swine parainfluenza! These types of infections have been involved in epidemics and pandemics throughout history. Hmmm, CFS was also previously called the "Yuppie Flu!" Pretty close if you ask us!

A quick search of PubMed for Cryptovirus robbins didn't show up anything.
Nor did cryptovirus "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome".
Was it published?

I would like non-profits funding research to insist on publication. A lot of them do.

I don't think the Stat-1 finding shows up on PubMed either. I think it was presented at a conference but somebody showed a reference recently and the reference authors gave was a project proposal on the NCF website:

"Finally, our results also call to mind the CFS of unknown etiology, in which there is IgG deficiency [43] which may result from STAT1 deficiency or instability, as previously suggested (K. K. Knox and D. R. Carrigan, project proposal, http://www.ncf-net.org/library/
Knox-Carrigan-2003.htm). We suggest that the IgG deficiency in patients with CFS is a result of STAT1 deficiency. Indeed, a recent report points to a human -retrovirus as the contributing factor in this disease [44], illustrating a possible involvement of STAT1, given its essential role in the response to viral infection. etc.

CFIDS Foundation implied there was something odd going on with government databases, hints of conspiracy - hence the confusion over whether Crypto is PIV5. It appears NIH is working on creating a vaccine using PIV5 as a delivery vehicle. They say PIV5 doesn't cause problems in humans, which is quite bizarre considering all the research saying it is. This I really don't understand.

It does appear that PIV5 fits all the symptomology of CFS. It has been found in spinal fluid.

The issue was very big on the forums in 2006 but died away. I would like to know if there is a simple treatment. Even CFIDS Foundation seems to have gone quiet on it.

I can't find any more information about the Cryptovirus other than what's been posted on this thread... There isn't much info to go on, so I've done some guess work...

I think that maybe Cryptovirus was another one of the many pathogens relating to ME/CFS that they found, probably only in a subset of people with ME/CFS, which led to a dead-end in terms of research.

From reading the National CFIDS Foundation literature, I can't be certain but I think that Cryptovirus was either very similar to Parainfluenza Virus-5 (PIV-5), or it was actually the SER strain of PIV-5, although this is my guess work and it isn't confirmed in the literature, as far as I can see.

The National CFIDS Foundation (NCF) website has a long article about Parainfluenza Virus-5 and Cryptovirus and I've extracted some of the more interesting bits of info, in an attempt to make a brief summary. Taken from this webpage...

Parainfluenza Virus-5 (PIV-5) was previously known as Simian Virus-5, or SV5. SV5 was first isolated in 1956.

PIV-5 is a member of the paramyxovirus family of negative-strand RNA viruses. An interesting note is that PIV-5 and measles are both from the paramyxovirus family.

It was noticed that ME/CFS patients have a lack of Stat-1 protein in the blood, which appeared to correlate with RNaseL.

Stat-1 degradation has been seen as a means for providing interferon antagonism by certain viruses as a method to escape the host's immune response.

The NCF looked at which viruses were known to directly attack and degrade the Stat-1 protein.

One specific virus which they found to deplete Stat-1 was PIV-5.

Dr. Steven J. Robbins isolated and identified a novel RNA virus which he designated as 'Cryptovirus'. Cryptovirus is thought to be 'most similar' to PIV-5.

A published medical journal article suggests that Cryptovirus is most similiar to Parainfluenza Virus 5, a rubulavirus in the paramyxovirus family.

Dr. Robbins' evidence includes: Nucleotide sequence data that indicates that Cryptovirus is pandemic and represents a single virus species...

The 'fusion protein' for Cryptovirus matched 100% with the sequence for the 'fusion protein' for the SER strain of PIV-5 (i.e. there was a significant strand of RNA identical for Cryptovirus and SER strain of PIV-5).

NCF reported in its press release that their scientists utilized the NIH Genbank database to find the nucleotide sequence for a specific viral protein of Cryptovirus that matched 100 percent to the porcine (swine) strain of Parainfluenza Virus-5 known as the SER strain. In 1994, scientists at Bayer AG in Germany first isolated the SER strain from swine with Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome. "This may represent a zoonotic process since zoonotic viruses are those that can be transmitted between animals and people" stated Cocchetto. The SER strain of PIV-5 had first been discovered in 1994, isolated from swine with PRRS (Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome). The SER strain had initially been characterised as PIV-2 but was subsequently classified as PIV-5.

Dr Robbins' research found an association between Cryptovirus and Multiple Sclerosis, Epilepsy and CFIDS. "Substantial clinical and molecular evidence indicates that this virus is involved in the development of neurological disorders that include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) by the World Health Organization, Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) and Idiopathic Epilepsy of unknown cause."

Dr Robbins applied to the FDA for approval for his diagnostic test for Cryptovirus, but there doesn't seem to be any further news about this.

The NCF literature says that some strains of PIV-5 appear to cause an acute but limited illness, while other strains cause viral encephalitis and neurological disease.

One last bit of interesting info in the NCF literature regarding the Stat-1 protein: "Since Stat-1 is responsible for type I and type II interferon responses (alpha, beta and gamma) within the cell, its role in in cellular immunity cannot be underestimated. Medical science has revealed that Stat-1 deficient cells are targets and degrades Stat-1 via one of its viral proteins known as the V protein. This V protein of PIV-5 acts to block interferon signaling. This is an important part of its viral evasion strategy against the host. Because of this strategy, the Stat-1 deficiency seen in patients with CFIDS represents an acquired host condition due to viral infection by PIV-5. Dr De Meirlier had previously identified a correlation between Stat-1 and RNaseL ratios."

The NCF literature says:

"This may represent a zoonotic process since zoonotic viruses are those that can be transmitted between animals and people" stated Cocchetto.

Kansky commented, "Here we have what appears to be the same viral strain of Parainfluenza Virus 5 on two continents and in two different populations, swine and humans.

"Simply stated, it now appeared Dr Robbins' virus that he had isolated from very ill patients potentially came from swine."

"Here we have what appears to be the same viral strain of Parainfluenza Virus-5 on two continents and in two different populations, swine and humans." (I'm not sure what research this is refering to.)

It seems to me that Dr Robbins was suggesting that Cryptovirus was a novel virus, but that other researchers are suggesting that Cryptovirus is very similar to the SER strain of PIV-5, or that it is the SER strain. The information seems to get a little foggy here. (The SER strain of PIV-5 was originally isolated from pigs.)

So did Cryptovirus end up being the SER strain of PIV-5? That's not what I concluded from reading the NCF literature. Their literature says that just one protein strand of the Cryptovirus genome matched with the SER strain of PIV-5.

Rubulaviruses:
A genus of the family PARAMYXOVIRIDAE (subfamily PARAMYXOVIRINAE) where all the species have hemagglutinin and neuraminidase activities but lack a C protein. MUMPS VIRUS is the type species.

Rubulavirus infections have been associated with encephalitis, meningitis, orchitis, inflammation of the testicles or ovaries, spontaneous abortion, and deafness, but...

...there are no published studies clearly demonstrating that another Rubulavims, Simian Vims 5 (SV5) (PIV-5), causes disease either in humans or in experimentally-infected animals, and there has been at least one published study demonstrating that SV5 does not cause disease in experimentally-infected mice, even mice with severe combined immunodeficiency... http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?KEY=02/077211&IA=US2002004117&DISPLAY=DESC

Porcine Rubulavirus:
A paramyxovirus in the genus Rubulavirus, first described in Mexico. Causes a generalized disease in pigs that includes corneal edema (blue eye) and respiratory infection. (I'm not certain, but I think that the term 'Porcine Rubulavirus' relates to Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, which I think is caused by the SER strain of PIV-5.)

From Wikipedia:

Family: Paramyxoviridae

Subfamily Paramyxovirinae​

Genus Morbillivirus (includes measles)​

Genus Respirovirus (includes Human parainfluenza viruses 1 and 3, as well some common cold viruses)​

Bob, thanks for the summary. I really struggle to interpret and focus when reading detailed information, so I appreciate your efforts. There are a lot of unanswered questions here.

Is Stat-1 deficiency cause by crypto, or XMRV, or both? Were the symptoms attributed to crypto from crypto itself or from XMRV? Certainly the mechanism ascribed to crypto suggests it could produce the symptoms of CFS. Given that the PIV-5 variant was found both sides of the Pacific, it could be assumed that it is pervasive. If you have crypto, can you still have XMRV? Is XMRV contributing to the chronic status of crypto? I am worried about this because it appears crypto research has disappeared. At this stage I would rather have XMRV, simply because research in this area is pushing ahead.

Bob, thanks for the summary. I really struggle to interpret and focus when reading detailed information, so I appreciate your efforts. There are a lot of unanswered questions here.

Is Stat-1 deficiency cause by crypto, or XMRV, or both? Were the symptoms attributed to crypto from crypto itself or from XMRV? Certainly the mechanism ascribed to crypto suggests it could produce the symptoms of CFS. Given that the PIV-5 variant was found both sides of the Pacific, it could be assumed that it is pervasive. If you have crypto, can you still have XMRV? Is XMRV contributing to the chronic status of crypto? I am worried about this because it appears crypto research has disappeared. At this stage I would rather have XMRV, simply because research in this area is pushing ahead.

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Hi Rusty,

Yes, lots of questions, and little information to be found about Cryptovirus on the internet... I've no idea why the Cryptovirus trail leads to a dead end... Maybe it turned out to just be an existing strain of PIV-5 virus.

There is plenty more information about PIV-5 on the internet, but there is far too much to even begin to make sense of it so I haven't done any searches or reading on PIV-5.

So I'm afraid that I can only guess at some of the questions you have asked.

All the literature that I've read about PIV-5 dates to before XMRV was discovered. I haven't heard anyone say that XMRV causes a lack of Stat-1, although I would expect that it is quite possible, as I read that there maybe a relationship between Stat-1 and RNaseL, and XMRV has been associated with RNaseL... That's how Judy Mikovits decided to look for XMRV in CFS patients in the first place... As she knew that both the prostate cancer patients, and CFS patients, had issues with RNaseL dysregulation... So maybe that means that CFS patients also have a lack of Stat-1, or Stat-1 dysregulation.

I would guess that if XMRV turns out to be the primary infection for people with CFS, then PIV-5 and Cryptovirus might turn out to be secondary infections, just as HHV-6 and other pathogens are. I think that PIV-5 is only found in a subset of CFS patients, just like the other secondary pathogens. Cryptovirus was found in a high percentage of CFS patients, but Dr Robbins only took the samples from quite a localised population (Southeast Queensland, Australia, including the Brisbane area)... So Cryptovirus might only be found in a very localised CFS/ME patient population, who had all been exposed to the same virus due to their locality in Southeast Queensland. I remember seeing a presentation from Australian researchers who also thought that they had found another significant pathogen in local populations of ME patients. I can't remember any details though. It maybe that Australian ME patients get exposed to tropical, or exotic, pathogens (that are secondary to XMRV?) that patients in the Europe and the USA don't get exposed to.

It might be that to be infected with both XMRV + PIV-5 (including Cryptovirus) infections cause more symptoms than XMRV alone, but that the more benign strains of PIV-5 wouldn't cause symptoms if it was the only infection. They say that some strains of PIV-5 are relatively benign, but that other strains cause complications.

It's interesting that Dr Robbins also associated Cryptovirus with MS and Idiopathic Epilepsy, both neurological disorders. Judy Mikovits is also working on atypical MS, and autism which is another neurological disorder, and I recently heard that Andrea Whittemore, Annette Whittemore's daughter, had been suffering from Epileptic attacks and I have a friend who also suffers from Epileptic attacks, so people with ME can suffer from Epilepsy. I think that this all ties up with XMRV, and what the WPI are researching, very neatly.

Thanks Bob. I thought the researchers believed crypto was a variant of HVP-5. Also there were a lot of references to HVP-5 being developed as a vaccine vehicle - because it is believed to be harmless in humans.

What they seem to be saying is that Cryptovirus is a variant of SV5 or PIV-5 (SV5 and PIV-5 are different names for the same virus).

This publication says that Cryptovirus is a human isolate of PIV-5. SER is a swine (pig) isolate of PIV-5 and, because the Cryptovirus and SER viruses match so closely, there is speculation that Cryptovirus is a species crossover of the SER strain of PIV-5, known as a 'zoonotic process'. (Zoonotic viruses are those that can be transmitted between animals and people.)

Was this already obvious, Rusty? Did I miss that info earlier? At least it's clearer in my own head now anyway.

The V/P genes of the human (LN, MEL, MIL and DEN), canine (H221 and 78524) and porcine (SER) isolates were cloned and their nucleotide sequences were determined

The nucleotide sequences obtained and derived amino acid sequences (Table 2) of the V and P proteins were compared with the published sequence for the simian isolate W3A and a human isolate, termed cryptovirus, whose sequence has been deposited in GenBank (accession no. AX586923).

From information published in the patent application relating to cryptovirus (WO02077211/EP1373477), it appears that this virus was a human isolate that may have come from a patient with neurological dysfunction. However, even though in the patent specifications it is claimed that this is a novel virus, this ‘cryptovirus' did not show a significantly greater degree of difference from SV5 (225 % in F and 28 % in P) than any of the other isolates.

The nomenclature of SV5 has always been problematic, given the repeated isolation of the virus over many years from numerous species. The problem is compounded because of a general assumption that if a virus is termed ‘simian’, then its natural host must be monkeys. To counter this assumption, new nomenclatures are creeping into use, such as SER virus and cryptovirus.

Thanks Bob. I thought the researchers believed crypto was a variant of HVP-5. Also there were a lot of references to HVP-5 being developed as a vaccine vehicle - because it is believed to be harmless in humans.

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Hi Rusty,

No, it's not a variant of HVP-5, but it seems that it might be a variant of PIV-5. The two are from entirely different families of viruses.

...there are no published studies clearly demonstrating that another Rubulavims, Simian Vims 5 (SV5) (PIV-5), causes disease either in humans or in experimentally-infected animals, and there has been at least one published study demonstrating that SV5 does not cause disease in experimentally-infected mice, even mice with severe combined immunodeficiency...

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In 1978, a report described the isolation of an"infectious agent"from the bone marrow of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). (Mitchell, DN el al., I. solation of an infectious agent from bone marrow of patients with mutiple. sclerosis. Lancet ii: 387-391 [1978]).
Subsequent reports described five separate"human SV5 (PIV-5) isolates"derived from different MS patients.
Nevertheless, a causal link between SV5 and MS remained speculative.

Does anyone know what percentage the Cryptovirus/PIV-5 is found in healthy controls?

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A good question, but I can't find the answer.

I'm not sure if Dr Robbins actually published a paper on this work, so his work may not have been peer reviewed... Maybe this is why there is so much confusion, and so little information, surrounding this subject.

I think that he may only have applied for a patent for a diagnostic test, and patents don't undergo the same sort of peer review of the quality of the science in the same way as a published paper does.

I think this might be why there is so much confusion surrounding this subject... His work wasn't subjected to peer review, and he didn't have to write up his research in a format that would be acceptable for publication.